March from Cabrini doesn't lead to mayor

August 11, 2006|By Tonya Maxwell, Tribune staff reporter

A march protesting police brutality was a successful show of unity, organizers said Thursday after about 150 people rallied at City Hall, though they did not learn more details about the shooting of a 14-year-old boy by police.

The group marched one-and-a-half miles from Cabrini-Green to the mayor's office. Since Ellis Woodland was shot Monday near the housing complex, several community members have wanted to know what witnesses told officers--particularly if the boy was surrendering his own weapon when he was shot.

But marchers also were critical of other issues with the Police Department, particularly what they said was a pattern of harassment and brutality against poor African-Americans.

They marched on sidewalks along Chicago Avenue and LaSalle Drive, chanting for justice and peace and invoking the memory of Emmett Till, a 14-year-old black Chicagoan whose brutal murder in Mississippi in 1955 helped spark the civil rights movement.

Woodland's 7th grade teacher, Monique Redeaux, 23, said she was drawn to the march because she believed officials were attacking the character of a soft-spoken pupil who made good grades.

"Ellis would be waiting for me an hour before I arrived at school, and he would help me carry my bags up the stairs," the Dvorak Elementary School teacher said. "He said he woke up early and didn't like to wait around the house, so he came early."

At City Hall, young men played snare drums as the crowd waited to go into the building.

But police officers stood three deep at the LaSalle entrance, saying only 45 people could enter.

"It's a safety issue for them to come in here," Assistant Deputy Supt. Charles Williams said later. "You have to notice the march is somewhat unorganized."

Several dozen people did later enter the building, including William Woodland, the teen's uncle.

"We're moving toward success," he said as the crowd stood in the City Hall lobby, demanding a meeting with Mayor Richard Daley. "We want to know, why did they have to shoot him like that?"

A police roundtable review of the incident determined the teen was shot after officers were flagged down by a juvenile near Cabrini-Green at about 5 p.m. Monday, saying two teens had tried to rob him. When officers confronted Woodland, the boy refused orders to stop, instead pulling a gun from his pocket, police said.

Police later discovered the weapon was a BB gun, which looks similar to a 9 mm.

Woodland was shot in the abdomen and thigh, along with a graze wound. His uncle said the boy has a colostomy bag after a Wednesday surgery at Children's Memorial Hospital.

On Thursday, the protesters were escorted to the 5th floor in City Hall, where the mayor's office is located.

Coming off the elevator, J.R. Fleming, a march organizer, was frustrated police would not let protesters waiting downstairs up into the expansive lobby.

"We're not living in a police state," he said. "Look at this room up here. It's more than big enough to hold everyone. They're playing mind games."